A member of the nightshade family (along with aubergines, peppers and chillies), tomatoes are in…

handful pine nuts

handful basil leaves

Method

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Use a small sharp knife to make a slit along the side of each chicken breast to form a pocket. Mix together the pesto and mascarpone, then carefully spoon a quarter of the mixture into each chicken breast and smooth over the opening to seal.

Brush a little oil, about 1 tsp, all over each chicken breast and season well. Tip the breadcrumbs onto a large plate and season. Place each breast on the plate and press all over with the breadcrumbs. Place in a lightly oiled shallow baking dish along with the tomatoes (kept together on the vine in a couple of bunches). Drizzle over the remaining oil.

Cook in the oven for 20-25 mins until the chicken starts to turn golden and is cooked through. Scatter over the pine nuts and cook for 2 mins more. Sprinkle with basil leaves and serve with new potatoes or crusty bread.

Tip

Homemade pesto

In a small food processor, whizz together a large handful basil leaves (about 40g), 25g toasted pine nuts, 25g finely grated Parmesan, 1 crushed garlic clove and 3 tbsp olive oil. Keep in the fridge for 1-2 days or cover with a layer of oil and keep for 3-4 days.

Comments (189)

Made this tonight. Served with boiled potatoes and roasted Mediterranean veg (peppers, onions, tomatoes and butternut squash ). Used a pre made pesto sauce. Used Panko breadcrumbs as I had some in the cupboard. It was ok but I don't think I'll make it again. We gave a favourite recipe from this site using chicken stuffed with mozzarella and cheddar with wholegrain mustard and wrapped in prosciutto which is much tastier.

I made this last night. It takes a lot longer to make than the 15 mins stated if you're going to make your own pesto, too. I found my food processor didn't make a smooth enough paste - the recipe says to use a small one but I only own one food processor so was stuck with that. If you mix the pesto ingredients with the mascarpone then blitz it, it's better, although I only discovered this after scraping lumpy pesto from the food processor a number of times before blitzing it again in a bid to make it smoother. Once that was done it was fairly easy to put together and looked amazing. I had enormous chicken breasts so covered it loosely with foil for 15 mins then cooked it for longer. It tasted lovely - just a shame no-one else in the family agreed! Too pesto-ish for the kids and too creamy for the hubby. A simple recipe full of flavour.

Enjoyed this. Made pesto exactly as it said (avoiding temptation to make the GF minty pea pesto!) and used light Philadelphia; used the tomatoes but made a non-bread crumb with blended cauli, quinoa, Parmesan and herbs. It was v good (even toddlers liked it!) so it was healthy with added veg & protein!

Really nice. I used red pesto with Philadelphia and added some pan-fried pancetta. Had to be used up in the fridge, but it was really delicious. Served with roasted peppers and red onions as well as the tomatoes and enjoyed without breadcrumbs for a low carb dinner!

Lovely, i'd never thought about pesto chicken instead of garlic kiev. Used ready made breadcrumbs mixed with garlic, and seasoning. I served with potato waffles (needed to use) and corn on the cob.TIP! Ensure chicken breasts are of similar size so they cook at the same time. I didn't measure how much pesto (shop bought) to use and just spooned in a lot into the chicken pockets (needed to be used up!). This made it a little bit too strong so make sure you measure.

Made tonight for my husband and self. Didn't have mascarpone so just used pesto( used recipe given). Brushed chicken with oil and patted breadcrumbs in. Tomatoes added a lovely freshness. Will definitely make again.

i did this using red pesto as i didnt have any green pesto in and didnt have all the stuff to make it homemade. I also added garlic to the breadcrumbs! I served it with roasted asparagus that had been coated with olive oil and balsamic syrup. I also served it with some wedges that I had tossed with a tiny bit of rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika, garlic and oregano. It was lovely!! My new favourite dish I think.

Did this dish for 20 people using chicken fillets. Marinated the chicken fillets first in garlic oil black pepper and lime juice. Drained all this and grilled for about 2 minutes on each side . Poured over the bought pesto and marcapone topped with oiled gluten free breadcrumbs and heated and toasted. Delicious! Part roasted tomatoes first then added when cooking.

I stumbled upon this because I had chicken breast and mascarpone I needed to use up.I had some red pesto open in the fridge so used that instead of making my own. I halved the recipe as only for two. However, I would do all of the sauce recipe next time and maybe put the extra in a ramekin in the roasting tin to bubble away and use to pour over veg.I also wouldn't roast the toms for quite as long next time.I would cook this for friends, I thought it was delicious. Think I will serve with roast potatoes, green beans and carrots.

Hi Marie, the pesto recipe is in the tip section below this recipe (we've changed the text to make it clearer) and also we've now added a couple of pesto recipes to the 'Goes well with' section on the right hand side. Thanks.

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